Sudhir Chella Rajan, a professor of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras and Coordinator of their Indo-German Centre for Sustainability, says Indian policy makers find themselves at a critical juncture: they appear unsure of whether to follow the United States' 20th century model of car-dominated development – favoring increased motorization and suburbanization – or Northern Europe's more progressive model of giving pedestrians, bikes and buses the priority over private vehicles.
In India, motorization has expanded much quicker than the development of transportation infrastructure that supports all the cars, along with bikers and pedestrians. Building infrastructure centered on sustainable accessibility would avoid a dismal future for those on foot or bike, protect community life and the poorest citizens, and foster livable development in India and beyond.
Thanks to Garrett
Comments
Urban Accessibility in India
In the context of integration with global economy, it is inevitable that the market driven forces dictate the physical form of development of our cities.
In such a scenario, it is possible to keep the pedestrian at the centre of a development model if we accept the concept of "guided development" and not a market driven model of development.
In India where flaunting of wealth and affluence means ultramodern residences and Cars it is difficult to promote a model of guided development to accord supremacy to the pedestrian however desirable.
Moreover the highly corrupt administrative and political system in India will continue to promote capital intensive projects that bring in huge kickbacks for the politicians and bureaucrats, Pedestrian be damned!
Projects in India are undertaken for their propensity to generate kickbacks for the politicians, bureaucrats and the technocrats and any benefit accruing to the general public is incidental and unintended!